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Mitchell was born in Stoke Newington, London. His father was a glass and china merchant. He is of Russian Jewish descent,[2] and describes himself in interviews as an atheist who sometimes believes in God.[3] He was interested in acting from an early age, and attended the Gladys Gordon's Academy of Dramatic Arts in Walthamstow from the age of seven. He did well at school and read physical chemistry at University College, Oxford, for six months. There he met his contemporary Richard Burton, and together they joined the RAF in 1944. He completed his navigator training in Canada just as the war ended.[4]

Mitchell's real life persona is quite different from Alf Garnett, being a left-winger, Jewish, and a staunch supporter of Tottenham Hotspur. The show ran from 1966 to 1975, in seven series, making a total of 53 30-minute episodes.[6]

Mitchell reprised the role of Alf Garnett in the films Till Death Us Do Part (1969) and The Alf Garnett Saga (1972), in the ATV series Till Death... (1981), and in the BBC series In Sickness and in Health (1985-92). In 1997, He played the role in An Audience with Alf Garnett. The same year, ITV aired a series of mini-episodes called A Word With Alf, featuring Alf and his friends. All the TV shows and both films were written by Johnny Speight. When Speight died in 1998, the series was cancelled at Mitchell's request.

Mitchell is a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association. He has been married since 1951 [11] to Connie (Constance M. Wake), an actress who appeared in early 1960s television dramas such as Maigret. They have three children: Rebecca, Daniel (also an actor) and Anna (also known as Georgia Mitchell). For over twenty years, Mitchell has suffered pain from nerve damage, caused by transverse myelitis,[12] and is a supporter of the Neuropathy Trust.[13] He suffered a mild stroke in August 2004. He was back onstage a week later, reprising his lauded role as a cantankerous old Jew in Arthur Miller's The Price.[14]